Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Happy Birthday to my paternal grandmother, Ruby Virginia Hollingsworth Burnett. Ruby was the daughter of Augustus H. Hollingsworth and Ida Ann Lyles. She was the wife of Leo E. Burnett and was born in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana November 19, 1901.

Ruby
was known to recite the poem “Jonah and the Whale”. Click below to hear her recite the poem.﻿

Saturday, November 15, 2014

James Jefferson “Jeff” Burnett
was born in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana on 10-Mar-1865 - one month
before the Civil War ended. He is the tenth and last child
Alfred and Julia Burnett. When Jeff was three years old his
father died and his mother died when he was 15. After his
mother’s death, it is thought he lived with his brother Sherrod.

In
1884[1]
Jeff married Leona Mae Hagar, born 25-Jan-1862 in Calcasieu Parish,
Louisiana. Leona was a widow and the daughter of John Arthur
Hagar and Ellen Elizabeth Reeves. She had previously been married to
John W. Williams who died in 1882. John and Leona had one son, John
Edward “Ed” Williams.

Jeff and
Leona made their home in Kernan, in what was then Calcasieu Parish,
LA. Today, Kernan is in Beauregard Parish. In 1889 Jeff
purchased 162 acres near the intersection of Bill Gilbert Road and
Sid Cormier Road. Jeff and Leona raised a family on this
land and made a living by farming and raising livestock. An
1880 map of this area shows the home place to be near or once where
the Thomas Gilley farm was located; a map of this time period can be
found by clicking here.

Jeff and Leona were founding
members of Bear Pentecostal Church where Jeff held the office of
deacon.

Leona died 27-Jun-1931 and Jeff
lived for another 5 years dying on 25-Feb-1936. They are buried
next to each other in Magnolia Cemetery in Ragley, LA.
Interesting note – all 10 of Jeff and Leona’s children are also
buried in Magnolia Cemetery.

I have located a copy of Leona’s
death certificate, however Jeff’s death certificate is not on file
in Louisiana Secretary of State’s archives.

Four of Jeff and Leona’s children
married children of William Henry Hodges and Laura Jane White.
Another three of their children married children of James Allen
Andrus and Frances Elizabeth Smith. This created many
double first cousins. The Andrus and Burnett homes were less
than one mile apart which helps explain the relationship between
these two families.

Son, “Ed” Williams had one
leg. It is believed, as a young man Ed lost the leg in a
hunting accident. Another son, James Jefferson Jr. was killed
at age 41 in a sawmill accident. Daughter, Lillie died at the
age of 26; it is unknown what caused her to pass at such a young age.

The succession of James Jefferson
Burnett is on file at the Beauregard Parish Clerk of Court’s
office. I will address the succession and other interesting
facts about Jeff Burnett in a subsequent blog.
﻿

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Besides my
attempt to document our Burnett family genealogy and history, there are other
Burnett descendants who are writing and collecting memories of our ancestors. For
many years Katherine Winstead Martin has been archiving these family stories. Katherine is the daughter of Betty Joyce
Burnett Winstead, granddaughter of Allen Arnold Burnett, G-granddaughter of
William Lander Burnett, GG-granddaughter of Loren Elbert Burnett and GGG-granddaughter
of Alfred Burnett - making her my 3rd cousins once removed.

Katherine has
been gracious enough to share some of these memories. If anyone would like to know
more about these stories or perhaps send some of their own memories to Katherine;
let me know and I will forward her contact information. Below are some memories of Katherine’s grandparents,
Allen Arnold Burnett and Gladys Mae Green Burnett.

Granny
(Gladys Mae Green Burnett) and the Bull

Don
and Kathy Martin, Granddaughter

One fall day we went to
visit Granny. She was in her 80s. She would usually greet us on the front
porch, but on this day we had to knock on the door. She hollered for us to come
in. She was sitting in one of her glider rocking chairs, huddled under a shawl.
Her hips were hurting so bad that Kathy went into the kitchen and cooked
supper. Now, you know that she was really feeling bad, because, she never sits
down while someone else does the cooking. The whole time we were visiting, she
was moaning about her hip. We served her supper right there in the rocking
chair. She could not even make it to the table. After supper we cleaned the
kitchen and visited with her until early evening, just before dark. I remember
thinking, how glad we were to be there to care for her while she was not
feeling well. When we were getting ready to leave, we noticed that Randy's bull
had jumped the cattle guard. We went back into the house to tell Granny and
call Randy. Well, there was no need to bother Randy for something like that.
Granny flung her shawl down, grabbed her white boots, quickly stuffed her feet
into them, and ran out of the house. She ran down that bull and chased him back
across the cattle guard. Yes, we sure were glad that we were there to take care
of her while she was not feeling well.

Granny
(Gladys Mae Green Burnett) and the Woodpecker

Don
and Kathy Martin, Granddaughter

September 1990, while we
were visiting with Granny, she saw a woodpecker pecking on one of her Japanese
Plum Trees. She calmly got up from her chair on the porch and went inside.
Granny came back with her shotgun. When I saw Granny coming with that gun, I grabbed
my stomach, thinking that Margaret would jump and kick. I was 8 ½ months
pregnant with her at the time. Granny stood on the porch and started shooting
at that woodpecker. She missed, and Margaret didn't even flinch. Of course,
Margaret still doesn't move unless it is absolutely necessary. We were so
thankful that she missed our brand new van, too. The woodpecker wisely chose
not to return that day.

·Mixing
butter into my cane syrup with a fork and putting it on my biscuit.

·Biscuits
always on the table. (I have Granny's flour sifter and biscuit bowl.) The flour
sifter was stored in the biscuit bowl. The biscuit bowl was always stored in
the flour bucket.

·As
a small child, I remember visiting them every Saturday. Grandpa would be at the
Sale Barn. Everyone else would be visiting on the porch.

·Every
time it was time to go home, I would stand on the porch and wave bye to my
parents until Daddy made me get in the car.

·The
only times that I saw Granny in pants was when it was very cold in the winter.
She would put on a pair of Grandpa's pants to go out to the barn early in the
morning.

·Grandpa
always wore overalls and a long sleeved khaki shirt, except when he went to
church.

·I
remember sitting on the porch, trying to spit through my fingers like Grandpa
did. I wasn't very good at it.

·I
remember walking to the shed out behind the house with Grandpa. He had a
‘banny’ (That’s what they called it anyway. It was actually a Bantam) rooster
that would attack you. When it attacked him, he hit it on the head with a pipe
wrench. That stupid rooster attacked him again. He whacked it again with the
pipe wrench. It took that dumb rooster 3 times before he left Grandpa alone.

·Grandpa
taught me how a horse bites corn.

·If
you walked too close to Grandpa at the end of the day, he would grab you and
"beard" you. He would rub your face with his whiskers until your face
was red.

·He
told us about when he was out in the woods one day when a wasp stung his lip.
His lip did not even swell because of the tobacco (or tabaccer as he would say)
juice that was in his mouth.

·I
remember all of Granny's funny little sayings:

oButter, butter makes you stutter.

oMy nose itches, I smell peaches. Someone is
coming with a hole in their britches.

oWhat fur? Cat fur, to make kitten mittens.
Old cat dies, you can have a pair.

·I
remember the songs that she would sing:

oThe choo choo train was a funny old thing and
he huffed and he puffed like a big fat man. He'd toot his whistle, and he'd
blow his horn, and his wheels go as fast as they can. Toot! Toot! Whoo! Whoo!
Chugga, Chugga! I love that choo choo train.

oI like to help my mama when she cleaned my
room. I like to help her sweep the floor with my little red broom, but
sometimes my broom was a pony strong and through the house we'd gallop along.
Giddy-up, giddy-up. Whoa. whoa, whoa.

oI am in the Lord's Army

·I
remember Granny telling us about Robert sitting under the table singing when he
was barely able to talk. He was singing "Doy, Doy, Doy" He had his
hand over his finger like he was singing "This Little Light of Mine".
He was confusing the 2 songs "I Have the Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart"
with "This Little Light of Mine"

·Granny
would always fix whoever visiting (well at least her Grandkids), their favorite
foods. Mine was smother fried, stewed, mashed, or any kind of potatoes.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Isabelle or Isabel
was the ninth child of Alfred and Julia Burnett.She was born in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
about 1859. Isabella can be found living
in her parent’s household in the 1860 and 1870 US Census.

The 1870 census
indicates she could not read or write; not uncommon for that era, but still interesting
for a ten year old.After 1870 no trace
of Isabelle can be found.Maybe she died
as a youth?